Twenty
Sophie smiled before she opened her eyes. The dawn was only moments away. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He sighed and opened his eyes.
“I like waking that way.”
“I think I need to sneak away now. We can’t be discovered yet. The dawn is about to break.”
He nodded. “When will you come back?”
“I don’t know. Soon. As soon as I can. I’ll try to be at our cave by dusk. Can you meet me then?”
“Not at dusk. I’ll have to socialize in the evening. But I’ll be there as soon as I can get away without it looking like I’m trying to get away.”
“Okay. I’ll think about you all day.”
He smiled and took her mouth softly. “And I you.”
Eli dropped to the ground and caught her as she jumped down. There was no more time. He kissed her again and let her go, his heart attaching itself to her as she left. He watched her go until the remaining shadows ate her up. He sighed, missing her already and longing for the day they didn’t have to hide as he slid into his trunk.
He needed to be a part of everything today. He hadn’t seen or talked to anyone since he snuck Sophie out after she’d brought Sam. He remembered talking to his friends, their unrest and speculations about Sophie. He needed to start preparing them. He needed to tell Lex everything first in confidence otherwise it would be a violation of their friendship. He would make them understand. In time, they would accept her. For one moment he was calm, resigned for what he had to do, then the wings under his skin jolted. The pulse of the bird thing began to race. Sophie…
He climbed out of his trunk and heard her muffled scream, a struggle, and then running feet. He ran toward the sound, an axe materializing in each hand. He couldn’t see her, or who had attacked her. The direction of the running cut a sharp left and headed toward the wall of fire. He ran faster. Still muffled, he heard Sophie scream again, this time in pain. Whoever had her had dragged her through the wall.
He jumped through the flames and continued chasing them through the shadows of the end of the night. They were taking her to the Heart. He skidded to a halt in shock as the manifestation loomed before him.
Ara had Sophie next to the flames, her hands tied behind her back, her mouth gagged. Lex, Sen, and Rom stood in a line between him and where Ara held Sophie, facing him down.
“Let her go,” he said through clenched teeth.
“You’re a traitor.” Rom smiled nastily.
“Okay. You’re right. Deal with me then. Let her go.”
Lex took a step forward, hurt mixed with the anger in his eyes. “Your lies astound me. My whole life, I thought you were my friend. But come to discover, none of us even knew where your tree really was. And now as we stand on the brink of war with the wolves, you start an affair with one! I don’t even know who you are.”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been. I am your friend. So, I have some secrets. So what? I bet you have a few of your own. You’re mad. I get it. But what do you plan to do?”
“She’s a spy,” Sen snarled. “She’s seduced you just to infiltrate us. You’ve been duped, Eli.”
“Even if that were true, what is your end game here?” Eli demanded.
“She has to be dealt with, and since she’s turned you, so do you,” Rom said.
Eli charged at them. Lex met him first. Eli dropped his axes. He wasn’t going to kill his friends. Beat the shit out of them, yes. Knock the stupid from their heads, but not kill them. He grabbed Lex by the front of his shirt, shoved him up against the nearest trunk, lifting him a few inches off his feet.
“I love her!” he shouted in Lex’s face.
“Eli!” Ara yelled.
They all turned. Ara smiled at him and stabbed Sophie in the chest with a long knife. His breath seized in his chest as time slowed, barely moving. His eyes held Sophie’s. They rounded, the light of her life darkening like lengthening shadows. Her blood rushed from her body. He moved forward but there was nothing he could do. That was a mortal wound.
He cried out. The agony of his voice echoed through the entire Wood as Ara pushed Sophie into the flames of the manifestation. He had no time for retribution, he charged into the flames after her.
He fell to his knees in the rushing white fire, Sophie’s body clasped to his chest. She wasn’t breathing.
“Bring her back!” he begged the Heart. “Please! I’ll do anything. Just bring her back.”
I cannot. Most of her soul has flown. Not much remains. The Heart said sadly. You only have a few seconds to decide, Eli. My chosen historian. If you would sacrifice yourself for her, then speak the most powerful words in the original Dradhi. The most powerful words in any language, if you know them.
The art of her longing lifted off his chest, its wings beating slowly. He wrapped his hand around it, bringing it to her chest, and pressed it against her open wound. “Ce narra phera ceroe,” he whispered.
The art climbed into her body. Please. He thought. Let it be enough of her spirit to save her life. Let it be enough. Were his words wrong? Were they not the most powerful?
How did he sacrifice himself for her? He put his face on hers. “Ce narra phera ceroe,” he said again pushing his lifeforce into his hands, making it slide into her the same way he used to put himself into his faux tree. Only now he didn’t hold anything back. She could have it all. He’d give his life for hers.
In the blinding white light, darkness began to take over his vision.
Stop, Eli. Stop now. Peace. Feel it. She lives.
He blinked, looking into her lifeless eyes. A tremor began deep inside her. The wound closed. Like an image behind a screen, something rose up through her body coming clearer as it neared the surface. She closed her eyes, took one breath, and opened them as though she was waking from a peaceful sleep. But as she opened her eyes her appearance changed. Her eyes were green, her skin a half shade warmer and her dark brown hair turned a light blond just in the front.
He shook himself, amazed, sure he had died. Sure they were both dead. She was more beautiful than before. She was like some feral angel in his arms, gazing up at him. As the seconds passed he grew aware neither of them was dead. He took the gag off her mouth.
“Say that again,” she breathed.
“Ce narra phera ceroe. It means,”
“I know.” She cut him off. “I love you. It means I love you.”
“You look different, Sophie…better.”
“Different?”
He lifted the ends of her blonde hair in front of her face.
“Are my eyes green?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She smiled. “How about that? It’s my true face.”
“But…I don’t feel…Dryads don’t have destined life mates. How can I see your true face?”
By choice. The Heart said. You are not destined life mates. But you have both chosen each other over any other possible future. She chose the moment death began to claim her. You chose the moment you were willing to die to bring her back. A choice that final, that strong and sure, carries its own ties. Neither of you has chosen an easy path. Your life together will be rife with trials given to none before you. But you will also have joys no one else has ever experienced. Just as you both are unique, so is your love…
She reached around his neck and he stood, holding her against his chest, where he could feel her heart beat next to his. She was his future. That was not in question now. In a moment the rage would return. But for this moment there was only them, wrapped in white flames. They would come out of the manifestation and confront those who opposed them. Justice would be dealt.
Leave Ara to me. The others were only hurt by your deception and did not truly mean Sophie any harm. Perhaps with time, your friendships might heal. They will answer for the part they played, but I am willing to forgive Rom, Sen, and Lex. If you forgive them or not is up to you. Ara will die, however.
Screaming and violent shaking filled the Heart. Eli and Sophie pulled together, cringing against the sound.
“What is happening?” Eli asked the Heart.
Fighting. The wolves brought the sand back. I feel the poison. It seeps into the ground. Your people are facing them just outside the wall. I will not lower it. I will not let them in. Go, Eli. You too, Sophie. Make deadly weapons of your art. Spill their blood.
They both had to blink as they came out of the Heart. The sounds of battle filled the Wood but none of it had come inside the wall. Ara, Rom, Sen, and Lex were still there. All three of his former friends were shouting at Ara. They all gasped as Eli and Sophie came out.
The manifestation bent and grabbed Ara. She screamed as it pulled her inside it.
No one will use my power for their own vice as Ara did. No one!
A terrible ripping sound came from the flames and Ara’s screams stopped.
Eli held Sophie’s hand and faced his friends defiantly. “She is with me. She’s not a spy and you will never lay a hand to her again. You will not speak to her, or even look in her direction unless she speaks or looks at you.”
“I’m sorry, Eli,” Lex said. “None of us knew what Ara planned to do. We weren’t going to hurt her.”
“I believe you only because the Heart told me just that. We will deal with each other later. Now we have to fight together. The wolves have brought the sand back. We can be enemies after we kill them until then I have your back. Do you have mine?” Eli demanded.
“Yes,” they all said.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
He moved forward but Sophie held back. He turned and looked at her. She held one shaking hand up next to the flames.
“Let me have some of you, please,” Sophie said quietly.
Sparks snapped off the Heart at her request. She put her hand back into the flames, grabbing a handful and pulling it back out. White fire engulfed her hand. Excited light lit her eyes as she pulled the flame into a long sword.
Eli smiled as his friends gasped.
“What is she?” Lex asked.
“Mine.” Eli’s voice was absolute.
Sophie held the white sword with both hands and swung it, bringing the tip directly under Lex’s chin. He held his hands up and she smirked. “I’m an artist. Nothing more. Let’s go. I want Tristan.”
They all ran together toward the boundary. “Stay beside me,” Eli told Sophie. “You look for Tristan. If he’s here, I’ll get you close to him. Cover you. He’s your kill. Unless you need my help.”
“I love you said that,” she called without breaking stride. “I’ve never been so hot for you. You better satisfy me later.”
He chuckled. “Let’s just survive. Your satisfaction will be my next order of business.”
They reached the fire wall. The dryads jumped through as though it was nothing, Sophie cut a line in the fire with her sword and it parted for her. She stepped through and was instantly splattered with blood.
She blinked, trying to orient herself in the chaos. The air was heavy with death, clanging blades, talons tearing flesh, growls, cries, and the smell of blood. Bodies littered the ground, dryad, and wolf. She’d never been in a battle. Whether she was ready or not, it was before her.
Everything that came toward her, Eli hacked down. She gripped the sword and walked forward slowly, her eyes cutting through it all, searching for Tristan. Would she be able to know it was him? Half of the wolves were in beast-form, the other half came at them in man form with blades. Arrows flew around them, sinking into the ground, shadow sand spraying up into the air as they did.
Eli roared in rage. She glanced over. One of his friends was hit in the shoulder with an arrow, the sand entering his blood. She didn’t know his name. He bent over and grabbed his head with his hands. His veins popped up purple. He fell, his body jerked once and then was still.
Her heart clenched. That’s what would happen to Eli if the sand touched him. He’d be poisoned and die within seconds. Damned if she was going to let that happen.
Across the distance, she saw his eyes, those terrible beautiful, psychotic, blue eyes. Tristan stood away from the fighting, just watching, behind two beasts protecting him.
“Tristan!” her shout was louder than the fighting.
His gaze fixed on her and his jaw tightened. He said something to those guarding him and they both started toward her. She braced herself and moved forward to meet them, Eli firmly at her side.
The hulking monster coming her way was too strong for her, too fast. She only had a second to decide. She grabbed the sword and pulled the fluid blade, lengthening it into a spear instead, and threw it. The power of the Heart gave it speed and the end sank into the beast’s stomach. He went down on his knees, trying to pull it from him. The spear lost shape and engulfed him in flames. He screamed once and died, burned down to the bones.
Eli faced off with the other one. She couldn’t help. He didn’t need her help, he moved so fast, so precise. Both of his axes sank into the top of the monster’s skull. She looked back for Tristan. He was still in the same place. He pointed at her.
“You’re still mine,” his mouth formed the words and he drew a sword.
More wolves came at Eli. She needed a new weapon. Sophie grabbed the blood off her dress, mixing the color with her hatred and pulled it out into another sword. She swallowed. It would end now…
Only it didn’t.
Just as she was about to move forward something stopped her. Tristan looked as well, his eyes burning, his mouth falling open, and he lowered his sword. It looked as if all the breath had been snatched from his lungs.